I'm trying to figure out what is the best way to go. The spinner feeders we do have the deer aren't coming in when the feeders are going off. They come in when they want to and eat. I was going to set the gravity feeder on a tree next to my food plots for the deer and use my spinner feeders for hogs away from my plots. What do you guys think are the best feeders? Oh the reason I'm asking is I moved down here from Iowa and we aren't allowed to hunt over feeders/mineral sites

The problem with free choice, a lot of times deer will only hit them at night. We have three 1000 Lbs. protein feeders on our place, and 75% of the pics we get are at night,one thing to add though, we don't feed protein during hunting season, but i am sure the outcome would still be the same.

I agree they would use the gravity feeders at night but 90% of my pics now with timed feeders are at night also. I've tried to change my feeder times up but it still doesn't matter. Any ideas on how to get them to hit the feeders in the day more?

I agree they would use the gravity feeders at night but 90% of my pics now with timed feeders are at night also. I've tried to change my feeder times up but it still doesn't matter. Any ideas on how to get them to hit the feeders in the day more?

Don't know where your at, but there is so much to eat where I live, the deer don't have to expose themselves right now for corn. Corn is more a treat for deer rather than any nutritional value, they will eat what gets the job done. We have also had mild winter temps so far, and a he77 of an acorn crop. Heck, I have a bloom or 2 on my peach trees!

My food plot is winning over the corn feeder, fertilized oat/wheat/ peas mix with a some clover, beets and turnips for fun. Since they like to browse in the morning, they are there at daylight and out in the afternoon-evening. My feeder is on the edge of the plot, so a few does will hit the corn then back to the green stuff.

Without question a timed feeder will produce more deer during daylight hours than a gravity feeder. Try this for a while. Set your timer to go off about 15 minutes before sunrise. Feed most of your corn then. Set it to go off about 45 minutes before sunset. Feed only a little corn at that time. They will learn to come to the feeder when it goes off. The number one problem with getting them to come to the feeder is....well actually there is two problems, one is that there is an abundance of other food right now for them to eat. We need a hard freeze to kill a lot of the plants and get them coming to feeders. But number two is the main problem that I see with people who say that the deer are only coming in at night. That is that they overfeed for the number of deer out their, therefore leaving a whole lot of corn on the ground for them to eat at night. Cut down on the amount of corn you throw, this will make the deer more aggressive towards coming to the feeder when it goes off. If they don't get there, they don't eat.

I have a timed gravity feeder (kirvoman feeder)Has saved be tons of protein from exotics wiping out a ton over one nightI set it to drop protein in the tube in the morning I have been happy with it so far

I have a timed gravity feeder (kirvoman feeder)Has saved be tons of protein from exotics wiping out a ton over one nightI set it to drop protein in the tube in the morning I have been happy with it so far

Without question a timed feeder will produce more deer during daylight hours than a gravity feeder. Try this for a while. Set your timer to go off about 15 minutes before sunrise. Feed most of your corn then. Set it to go off about 45 minutes before sunset. Feed only a little corn at that time. They will learn to come to the feeder when it goes off. The number one problem with getting them to come to the feeder is....well actually there is two problems, one is that there is an abundance of other food right now for them to eat. We need a hard freeze to kill a lot of the plants and get them coming to feeders. But number two is the main problem that I see with people who say that the deer are only coming in at night. That is that they overfeed for the number of deer out their, therefore leaving a whole lot of corn on the ground for them to eat at night. Cut down on the amount of corn you throw, this will make the deer more aggressive towards coming to the feeder when it goes off. If they don't get there, they don't eat.

That actually makes a lot of sense. I always figured more corn is better. I'm throwing 10 seconds in the morning and evening (7:30am and 4:45)

The problem with free choice, a lot of times deer will only hit them at night. We have three 1000 Lbs. protein feeders on our place, and 75% of the pics we get are at night,one thing to add though, we don't feed protein during hunting season, but i am sure the outcome would still be the same.

Timed feeders during hunting season.

Free Choice outside of hunting season.

Just my opinion.

Turn back the feed time to about 3 seconds until they start cleaning it up. Then turn it up to about 6 seconds. There is alot of green browse still out there so it will take some more cold weather before they start hitting the corn more consistently. Good luck and to the great state of Texas.

I would also start chumming some piles by hand when you out hunting away from the feeder and put some sweet feed for livestock out mixed with corn.